Cloud computing is a term used by many online businesses and IT companies around the world. Till 2008 cloud computing was in its infancy, but not anymore. This article is hence about cloud computing benefits and methods of using it for online companies.

The ‘cloud’ in this term represents the internet and hence the computing is done using the internet as the medium. Computing is done by sharing online resources or the better word is ‘hosting’ rather than using software.

Leading examples are Amazon which allows users (other companies) to run their applications on its hardware and Google’s App Engine.

So how is this hosting different from the traditional hosting we talk about?
In cloud computing, services are sold whenever a demand for the same occurs from a user. The user just needs a computer and internet connection and also can decide how to use this service (scalability). The entire service is managed by the service provider.
So that brings us to the advantages of Cloud Computing, first and foremost – cost saving- the golden word for any start up or existing company. Cloud computing significantly reduces the IT costs.

The characteristics of cloud computing allows its users to not have their own physical resources at place but rather rent them from a provider thus avoiding capital expenditure on hardware and software. The users also have the option to pay only for what they have used. Moreover it is highly scalable with easy entry to a host of applications. Since there is data centralization security, maintenance & support to users is often considered better for cloud computing.

Types of services provided:
There are three types of services provided using the model of cloud computing. We list the same along with the names of business giants successfully using the same:
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) – example salesforce.com
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) – example Amazon
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) – example GoogleApps

Deployment options
Cloud computing can be deployed using the following options:
Public cloud (traditional usage), private cloud (on private networks and hence more secure), community cloud (organizations with same requirements share infrastructure) & the hybrid cloud (multiple internal and external providers are involved).

Apart from Amazon & Google, the following companies have tasted success using this model – AT&T, Enomaly,Microsoft, Netsuite & Gogrid.